Goosebumps

Its really getting quite cold here at the moment... just in time for the Bloody Mary which by the looks of the long range forecast is going to be light and cold. If its anything like Sunday with the water was freezing to anything it touched, turning the boat into an ice skating rink, its going to be amusing for everyone else but us.  The Musto guys have already declared defeat and are heading to Hayling, for a less congested sail.

As for the race organisers I know they've put a lot of time and thought into the 2009 event, mostly about how to deal with the foiler issue. The next club pursuit after the Bloody Mary was a bit embarrassing, perfect foiling conditions all the way round ... I won the race by a long long way. Every pursuit since that a moth has taken part in has been a moth victory. They are now fully prepared for the top guys to be laps ahead of the non foiling boats.

What this means for the finishing is that the main committee boat will follow the 1st boat eligible for the Bloody Mary and finish them dead on the finish time. Extra rescue boats will be dedicated to finish foilers that have already overtaken all eligible boats, which could be quite a distance ahead at this stage.

As for me I hope things go a bit better than last year, although I was the leading moth round the first mark I really struggled for height upwind in the light breeze. And was soon hunted down by Graham and Jason, but had a good battle most of the way round with Boona.

See you there!! 

Know your heritage

Two updates in as many days... yes day 4 has been canned. With the exception of the velocitek speed challenge which will kick off shortly in the 25-30knt breeze.

I am part of an distinguished club, an owners club if you will, Owners of Adam May built & designed moths. For several months there has been talk of getting us together for a family photo. Which is what we've just done, really good to see all the small incremental developments on each boat. I am sure mine is the best of the bunch!! There are much better pro shots on the daily sail but I got a few snaps on my phone. Including for Toby a rare treat of a May piggyback.

Bored Bored Bored

Things have got so bad here in Weymouth that I've turned to updating the blog.

3-days have been canned now, gusts of 40knts on the harbour wall today. There is a wind window tomorrow and the prospect of 4 races is actually very apealling. Then wednesday is back to usual, drinking tea in the academy, avoiding the bad weather.

I feel sorry for the aussies who have travelled from the other side of the planet for this. Welcome to England.

Whicher has just cooked dinner like only he can, Mike's playing a song called "your mum's your dad" and Emma is tired from dancing to the song "soup on your head"

Things are looking up...

From one concrete bowl to another...

So another successful weekend on the water, this time at Axbridge with Mike & Alan. It was good to see a hive of moth activity, despite the wintry temperatures. I took the headcam out again and got some good footage which I've edited down and posted on youtube ...

New Year Training

Tom Whicher, James Roche, Arthur Phillips and I all made an appearance at Queen Mary yesterday. Arthur was only dropping by to pick up some bits to be repaired, but the rest of us managed to get out for a sail in a blustery 10 - 20knts.

Armed with my new ATC2K headcam I joined the boys to get some on the water footage. I only got 15 mins footage before the batteries ran out, which did mean most of the crashes and James first foiling gybe didn't make it onto the clip below.

Sunday's training in contrast was a bit of a wash out, with Tom still being asleep in southampton after a night at Jesters, James had some irrepairable twist grip issues. Only I made it out for a quick spin in the 20+ knot conditions and had a great few runs. Headcam didn't seem to work today ... which I think was down to user error.

Anyway here is an edited selection of yesterday's footage...

Its good to be foiling again!

So after a long period out of the class ... I'm back!

Managed to get out for a spin today, see the pics below...

Double Stacking Moths..

Alas the old boat has gone :(

But I should be getting a new one soon...

Here's a brilliant photo taken at the UK Nationals on the packup day. ..

Team GBR off to Denmark

Well its finally time to go, the trailer has left and by now it should be on the ferry.

The boat is loaded up to the foredeck with all my gear including tent, stove, toolbox, sailing gear etc. She weighs a bloody ton! I'll be flying out on tuesday giving me 4 days of training before the event kicks off, oh yeah I probably should get the boat measured as well!

I'll try and keep the site up to date on a day by day basis.

Team GBR off to Denmark
Originally uploaded by gbr4067.